When you think of Afghanistan, you probably think war torn and desolate. Not high quality produce.

When Kimberly Jung was stationed there as an Army captain, she tasted some of the best fruits, vegetables and spices she had ever eaten. Equally as impressive to her were the people whom she found to be optimistic despite their circumstances as well as loyal and hospitable.

When Jung came back to the U.S., she went to Harvard Business School expecting to be a management consultant At McKinsey in San Francisco. The job didn’t materialize. Instead, while on the phone with Keith Alaniz who was still deployed in Afghanistan, a spark for an entrepreneurial venture took shape. Alaniz told her about Haji Yosef, an industrious farmer who had plenty of saffron but no buyers.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world. It sells for six to seven times the amount of opium poppy. Both Jung and Alaniz knew that selling a high-value crop like saffron would undercut drug trade, which fuels the Taliban.

In the coming years, many companies and small business owners will need to consider how they can create a socially responsible marketing plan, since there has been a major initiative over the past few years to encourage businesses to do just that. Since companies are gathering more power these days, they're also feeling more responsible for things that go on in society. This means that they will need to be prepared to create marketing campaigns that provide people with useful and truthful information. There are many people who have begun creating these kinds of ads in these different commercials, since they are proving to be effective and simply the right thing to do.

Do men and women innovate differently? I asked an expert, Larry Keeley, author of Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs and co-founder of Doblin, an innovation consulting firm. He analyzed three decades of innovations, who made them, and how they did it.

The numbers around how many people use social media are staggering – 91% of global adults online use social media regularly. In the UK there are 41 million Facebook users and 10 million people on Twitter. As you're reading this article online, it means you'll probably check at least one social media site today. There is no denying the power of it, and it's changed the way we communicate.